Jammu And Kashmir Lawyer Who Sought Police Help Days Ago, Shot Dead By Terrorists

A Srinagar-based lawyer who had just a few days ago alerted the police about a false campaign against him and claimed that there was a threat to his life was shot dead on Thursday.

Babar Qadri was shot at his residence in Hawal around 6.25 pm from close range.

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Qadri, in his early 40s, was rushed to the SKIMS hospital, where doctors declared him 'dead on arrival', according to the official. The advocate, who used to appear on TV debates and write opinion pages for local newspapers, was not liked by separatist circles.

3 days ago he urged police to help

Three days ago, he had tweeted a screenshot and urged the police in Jammu to register an FIR against a Facebook user for spreading "wrong campaign" against him. "I urge the state Police administration to register FIR against this Shah Nazir who has spread wrong campaign that I work for agencies. This untrue statement can lead to threat to my life, Qadri had written in his last tweet.

I urge the state Police administration to register FIR against this Shah Nazir who has spread wrong campaign that I work for agencies. This un true statement can lead to threat to my life.@ZPHQJammu pic.twitter.com/utkurYpRzk

¡ª Babar Qadri Truth (@BabarTruth) September 21, 2020

A few hours before his murder, Qadri had in a Facebook video accused Bar Association lawyers of planning to kill him.

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Kashmir High Court Bar Association president Mian Qayoom, who is known to be close to several separatist leaders was been released recently after being arrested ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year.

Second death in past 24 hours

The advocate becomes the second political or social activist to be shot dead by militants in the past 24 hours. Bhupinder Singh, a member of the block development council in Khag area of Budgam district, was shot dead by militants at his ancestral village Dalwash on Wednesday night.

Singh, who was BDC chairman of Khag block, left for his ancestral home alone on Wednesday, without informing the police, after dropping his Personal Security Officers (PSOs) at Khag Police Station.

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"It was a cowardice act. I appeal to the government to conduct an inquiry into my father's death. When such killings took place in the past, we asked him to quit as a councillor but he refused," his son Balwinder Singh said.

"My father unfurled the national flag on August 15 in Kashmir. He was under threat and there was a security lapse. We demand a probe into it," Singh's son Amandeep Singh alleged.

In the past few months, there has been an increase in the number of attacks on civilians in the valley.

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In August two Sarpanches were shot dead by terrorists in Kashmir.

In July, another Sarpanch, one of the few Kashmiri Pandit Sarpanches in the valley was shot dead.